Scum of the Earth (1963)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Herschell Gordon Lewis

Writer:

Herschell Gordon Lewis (writer)

Release Date:

8 October 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A naive and innocent teenage girl is blackmailed into modeling in the nude for a photographer whom is in league with a teenage gang whose boss illegally sells photos of teenage girls being abused and degraded.

Plot Keywords:

Blackmail | B Movie | Photography | Psychotronic | Sexploitation

Cast

William Kerwin	...	Harmon Johnson (as Thomas Sweetwood)
Allison Louise Downe	...	Kim Sherwood (as Vickie Miles)
Lawrence J. Aberwood	...	Lang (as Lawrence Wood)
Sandra Sinclair	...	Sandy (as Sandy Sinclair)
Mal Arnold	...	Larry
Craig Maudslay Jr.	...	Ajax
Christy Foushee	...	Marie (as Toni Calvert)
Doug Brennan	...	Carl
Christina Castel	...	Cindy, the model
Edward Mann	...	Mr. Sherwood
Lou Youngman	...	Dave, punk in diner
William Caulder	...	Joe, punk in diner

Also Known As:

Devil's Camera

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Miami, Florida, USA

Quotes:

Lang: It's time for straight talk, Kim. It's not my fault you posed for Harmon. It's not my fault you posed for Larry in the nude. You did it, its your problem, its pretty late to act prissy and prim. All you kids make me sick! You act like little Miss Muffet and down inside your dirty...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mau Mau Sex Sex (2001)

poor sexploit

The same year he invented the gore film with "Blood Feast", Hershell Gordon Lewis made the cheep sexploitation flick, "Scum of the Earth"; a supposed expose of the smut industry. Unlike "Blood Feast" which gained millions of fans, broke the taboo concerning graphic violence and sent his career in a whole new direction, "Scum of the Earth" is a barely remembered footnote on his filmography. This is with good reason as "Sum of the Earth" is one of Lewis's worst films ever. It's not quite as bad as "Monster a Go-Go" or "A Taste of Blood", but it's up there. "Scum of the Earth" has all the problems normally associated with HGL, bad acting, static direction and amateurish writing, but unlike his best films, this isn't even entertaining. It drags on and on with nothing interesting happening. Its runtime is about 75 minuets, but it's so poorly paced it seems a lot longer. Also, for a film that claims to be a sexploitation film, this has very little sex. I know 60's exploitation tends to be more about tease than sleaze, but they could have done a lot better than this. Nothing in this film is even remotely erotic. Overall a very poor and lackluster effort that's not worth anyone's time.